Notes / Commercial Description:
In our golden-yellow crystal-clear wheat beer the fresh citrus flavour harmonises very well with spicy banana notes. The fine sparkling gives it a tangy and animated appearance. Throughout summer and winter, it’s a prickling experience. It goes well with fish, seafood, white meat or it can be enjoyed as an aperitif. Brewed according to our centuries-old brewing tradition on the Weihenstephan hill.

Pours perfectly clear the color of light straw yellow with a tinge of something green. Champagne effervescence and a billowy white head that is loathe to recede and just stays with a thick collar and cap. Soapy wet lace. Very beautiful. Nose is yeast, banana, clove. fruity lemon and peppery with a little skunk. Taste is light as a feather and follows the nose. Banana, sweet grain, bubblegum, a touch metallic and just a little bitter to end. Malt comes forward as it warms but never becomes too sweet. Finishes dry with a hint of apples and pear. Soft, creamy and earthy. Delicate.

Pours a crystal/kristall clear gold in the 0.5 SOHM Erdinger Weissbrau glass with a stiff white pillowy head. Banana, wheat and bready aromas a little dimished by filterings as is the over all flavor. Less sweet that the standard heffe with lighter mouthfeel from the missing proteins. Still in all a very drinkable summer offering from Weihenstephan that some may prefer until they aquire the taste of the fuller unfiltered version.

#76. Followed through with a worthy successor to Weihenstephaner's outstanding Weissbier.

Poured from a 1pt. .9oz bottle to a pint glass at room temp.

(Appearance) Beastly head when poured with a rather average pour, pretty much exactly the same way the Weissbier poured. The head is foamy and retention is average but slows down the closer it gets to the surface. Color is a very pale straw yellow, not very exciting but crystal clear, as a Kristalweizen might only be. Carbonation is plentiful. Not as visually stimulating as its Weissbier cousin, mainly in the very clean visual characteristics of the color. However, the head is great and really redeems this beer's appearance well. Still looks excellent. 4.5

(Smell) Wheat grains, some banana bread tones, some spices (sweet coriander) and a touch of citrus, perhaps lemon. Not much differing it from the Weissbier but the beer has a refined strained aroma, much like the beer's appearance and some of the potential for balance and potency have seemingly been lost in the smell. Not as appealing as the Weissbier regular but still a good catch. 3.5

(Taste) Nice balance of wheat tones and flavor blend of citrus fruits and coriander spice. The banana flavor is one of the most dominant flavors in this brew, followed by a very evident spiciness that comes from the coriander and some citrus tang. Filtration being this beer's biggest difference between itself and the Weissbier, the filtration weeds out many other complex flavors that would have existed in the hazy flesh of the body. The end result is something less filling and bold than the Weissbier and more subtle in flavor. It still tastes like a good beer, but not nearly as exciting as in the regard I had held it to. Wonderful Kristalweizen nonetheless. 4

(Mouthfeel) Likely the biggest difference between the KristalWeizen and the Weissbier can be found in the mouthfeel. Crisp spicy carbonated beginning but remains smooth for the majority of the drink thereafter. Beer is quite light bodied; there is little texture besides the thinness of the entire brew, which makes sense considering it's strained quality. Body and texture are all less complex than the Weissbier cousin, but this would be more pleasant for those who desire a clean strained beverage. Does well for a KristalWeizen but doesn't impress me much. 3.5

(Drinkability) Easy enough to finish the bottle on account of it being very subtle yet having enough flavor to maintain interest, but beyond this I may be hard pressed to get a second bottle anytime soon. Just knowing that something is more flavorful and exciting exists by the same brewery captures my interest more. Again, to each their own. Enjoyable especially as a kristalweizen but I'm not nearly as big a fan of this Weihenstephaner brew as I am their Weissbier. It proves too light to maintain my interest long. 3.5

Verdict: Light, clean subtle flavor and character. It does well and the ingredients are pure but the result is not something I personally can connect with. I know there are Kristalweizen fans out there which is why I will recommend the beer anyways, as it does well in maintaining complex flavors despite losing much of the fine details in the filtration procedure. Plus if the drinker specifically enjoys filtered beer with light body and character, there is probably few better attempts at getting it right than this beer here. Worth a shot to most to see if it hits the spot, but I'll stick with the Weissbier any day! B+ (3.9)

This German kristall weiss pours a clear gold color with a sizeable white head, which subsides quickly. Clarity is excellent, as this is a "crystal clear" beer according to the bottle. Steady carbonation is present throughout the duration of the brew. Nose is rather earthy, with notes of yeast and clove making their respective marks. Taste is a touch bland, but still pretty good, with spicy notes and mellow hops. Mouthfeel is rather prickly and carbonated. This would be a near-perfect summer thirst quencher.

500ml bottle. Pours a perfectly clear gold with a large white head that settles soon after to a half-finger cap. Smells heavily of banana and tart wheat, with plenty of yeast character that hints at clove. The wheat dominates the taste, with light clove in the background; the banana is all but gone. None of the flavors are very strong. Light body with heavy carbonation. Crisp and refreshing, but reminiscent of a normal hefe that's been watered-down.

Mother of Head! I feel like you could rest your head on this pillow...

Appearance: So beyond the head rests a clear straw yellow beer. With the looks of all the bubbles rising up it looks like champagne almost. Certainly has me interested...

Smell: Barnyard smell with a touch of yest, clove, and fruit (so I may be wrong, but I get that grape smell...). The smell is very strong.

Taste: This truly defines why your nose comes in handy when tasting a beer... as you can really experience both at once in this beer. Maybe too pure, as there really isn't much to it beyond lingering tastes of phenols, clove, lemon, and maybe grapes or banannas with an overlying wheatness.

Mouthfeel: Is it there?? So fluffy at the head, with harldy any carbonation.

Drinkability and Notes: Well, this beer is supposed to be noted for its crystal clear appearance. But it goes beyond that there are some interesting hidden smells and a few tastes too. Suprisingly over 5% alcohol as its not even close to noticable. Won't have any problem ending this 16.9oz bottle but thats enough for me. Always interesting to see what the boys over in Germany have been coming up with for hundreds of years holding to the Purity law of 1516.

16.9oz brown bottle.
It pours a hazy gold with a pure white head and little specks of lace.
The aroma is clovey...really clovey...like someone added a bunch of cloves to the brew. A lemony citrus smell and the faint smell of wheat crackers are also noticed.
The malt has a wheat cracker taste. It has a light brown sugar-like sweetness.
The hops have a lemony sourness along with the flavor of orange zest. The taste of cloves is fairly potent. A light peppery finish and a taste of coriander provide an interesting aftertaste. It has a dry, refreshing finish.

Pours a light golden yellow with a monstrous fluffy head. First kristalweizen, so it's kind of weird to not see tons of little yeast particles floating around. Instead, just a steady stream of bubbles. Surprisingly, there's not much lacing on the glass.

Aroma is of cloves, banana, and wheat. Pretty mild nose, not really up to par with other world-class beers I've had from Weihenstephan.

Taste follows the nose. Lots of fruitiness...seems like banana outpaces the clove. Disappointing slightly metallic taste in the finish.

Second wheat beer of the night, and both have gone a little overboard in the carbonation department. Again, I know the carbonation is meant to be a little higher, but this is just a bit too much. That said, there's still a creaminess to the texture, and it's a refreshing beer that's easy to drink.

Pours a typical "beer" golden-straw color. Big fluffy white head that dissipates quickly into a soapy film. Body is more clear as expected, and you get a good look at a decent amount of carbonation as the bubbles run to the surface. Very unassuming looking brew.

Smell is like a typical German hefe. Wheat, straw, grass, with the typical hint of bananas on the nose...maybe even a little bubblegum as well.

Taste is good not great. It's got the same characteristics as you would expect to find in a weizen, but it's missing something. that's probably due to the fact that it's filtered. Fairly creamy wheat flavor on the tongue at first, with the bits of clove and banana, and the bubble gum notes dominate as it finishes. Fairly complex for a pretty simple looking beer.

Mouthfeel is a little thin. I don't know if it's because I expect a much thicker/chewier beer when I get a weizen, but it's really the one thing that I don't like about this beer. Also, with something this clear you expect carbonation, but the bubbles don't really show up during consumption.

That being said, this is a pretty drinkable beer. Wouldn't mind having a couple of these with a dinner.

A - This beer pours a clear yellow straw color. It has a big 3-finger white head on it. The head has good retention, and it leaves some nice lacing behind on the glass. There are also plenty of rising carbonation bubbles visible.

S - It smells of wheat and yeast. There are also some scents of banana, clove, and some other spices.

T - I am getting the yeast and wheat up front, which is immediately followed by a small kick of banana. Towards the end of the drink I am getting the clove and other spices. The finish has some lingering spice notes and some dryness.

M - It has a medium mouthfeel and good carbonation. It goes down smooth, and it is very refreshing. There is some lingering spice notes left tingling on the palate.

O - This has good drinkability. It goes down easy, and the flavor is great. Overall, I thought this was very enjoyable beer. It is refreshing, and great for a hot day. This is my first beer of this style, but I can't wait to try another.

A: I need to start by saying that I got a bad pour from this one. The head was huge because when my friend brought the bottle he probably moved it all over the place. Unfortunate but that's what happened. The body was very wild with bubbles from carbonation all over the place, most likely because the bottle was agitated. Clear golden body.

S: some banana and spices present, a bit hard to tell because of the incident I had with the bottle.

T: I wasn't able to fully enjoy this because of the huge foamy head that overshadowed everything else, but I could feel banana, herbal elements, citrus and some wheat in the palate.

M: light to medium body, clean and fresh feel

O: I'll need to go back to this one and give it another shot to be more fair. From what I could tell, it's a very good beer in its style but I think I still prefer the Tucher Kristall.

Appearance – The beer pours a golden color with a fizzy white head of two fingers. The head fades relatively quickly, fading to leave a lighter level of streaky lace on the sides of the glass.

Smell – The aroma is mainly of a grainy and bready smell mixed with aromas of some sweeter caramel and a bit of light fruits (banana, orange, and pear). Rounding out the aroma are some quite light but detectable aromas of some spice of clove and coriander as well as a yeasty cake aroma.

Taste – The taste begins with a slightly grainy and moderately caramel sweetened flavor. As the taste advances some of the yeast and spice greet the tongue with the caramel fading but being replaced by some lighter fruit flavors of banana and citrus. More toward the end, a somewhat grassy flavor comes to the tongue as well as the grainy tastes seeming to amplify to some extent, with the mix of flavors in the end, leaving a rather nice clean and malty flavor to linger on the tongue.

Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is on the average side for a brew of 5.4 % abv with a carbonation level that is on the average side as well. Both are rather nice for the blend of grainy malt, sweet, and lightly hopped flavors of the beer and make for a very easy drinking brew.

Overall – A nice very easy drinking brew with some great blend of tastes making it a nice flavorful drinker.

M - Smooth, not nearly as frothy or biting on the tongue as I expected from the powerful carbonation, which is wonderful. Refreshing.

D - This beer is pretty good around the board. With a bolder flavor and a more pleasant odor, this would not only be the archetypal Kristal Weizen, but also quite possibly my favorite beer. I really wish there were more Kristal Weizens around.

With so few authentic kristallweizens out there, this one was a refreshing summer beverage. It pours a very light golden color, almost looks like a light offering from an American mass domestic, but the pour produces a beautiful frothy white head. The head lasted for quite a while on top of a mildly fizzy beer. The aroma delivered the pleasant and expected estery and fruity notes, predominantly banana. Taste of wheat, but a nice crispness to it and finishes clean. Its rare to have a tasty beer that really quenches your thirst AND provides a balanced flavor as well. Nice with lemon chicken dish.

Wow...crystal clear pale yellow with tons of tiny carbonation continually seeking the surface...snow white craggy head melts to very sticky lacing...really pretty.
Aroma is bubblegum and biscuit...drying yeast and spice scents very apparent as it warms up.
Taste starts with a softness of malt that quickly becomes the sweetness of banana and cloves and again, bubblegum...followed with a spicy pepper type bite of wheat...very spicy in fact.
Aftertaste remains with the spiciness....causing a pleasant drying.
Wonderful Kristall to style.
Clean, crisp, very complex yet balanced, and refreshing.

500ml bottle. Pours a crystal clear pale yellow with a large lasting fluffy white head. Aroma and Taste of wheat, banana, some citrus and grassy notes, with some mild bitterness. Palate is a light to medium body, a crisp clean mouthfeel with good carbonation. Finish is a combination of wheat, sweet citrus and banana flavor, a bit of tart notes with some bitterness on the end for balance. Overall a very good, crisp and refreshing brew. Nicely done

16 oz bottle. The guy at my local beer store loves this one, and always has it in stock. Pours kristall clear, as advertised, with the same big fizzy head as the other kristalls. Nice wheat, yeasty smell, some citrus, then a certain sourness took over. Some very noticable yeast flavors, but again, a very bitter sour finish that wasn't expected. Not as crisp and clean as the other kristalls I have had, and a bit heavier. For some reason the sourness, (maybe stale ?) flavors dominated. I would choose the franziskaner club-weiss over this one.

- clear hefe with big white head
- some clove which is pleasant but a banana scent is not as much
-a smoother better balanced hefe with less flavor as well
-perfect silk smoothness feel
- overall a great beer not big on the style but this would be a great example of that style

Pours to a nice golden yellow with good carbonation and a medium white head, which dissipates very quickly and leaves no lacing. Aroma and flavor were very strongly bread and wheat, with clove spice playing a big part in the taste as well. Unfortunately, palate was much too dry, and even slightly metallic. But a good beer.